Naruto: The Heart of the Storm
by Twylyte
Summary: Naruto, Hinata and Jiraiya return from training, but something or someone in Konoha is working behind the scenes. Are they trying to start a war? And if so can Naruto and Hinata stop them? Post timeskip NaruXHina, other pairings inside.
1. Chapter 1: Returning Home

**Naruto: The Heart of the Storm**

Chapter One: Returning Home

"Naruto-kun…" _If I don't tell him now… He'll never know how I feel…_ "I-I… I love… you…"

And then, Hinata slipped into darkness.

The Hyuga child lay splayed across Naruto's arms, a huge gash in her stomach. _She… she loves me?_ Naruto felt Hinata slipping away, he handed her to Jiraiya, he knew the Toad Sage could help her. He'd be there when she woke up, but first…

"You! You did this to her!" The blond yelled facing the bandits that had attacked the caravan Hinata had been travelling with.

_**Let me loose… Let me KILL THEM!!! **_

_No, you won't kill them…_

Red chakra gathered around Naruto's body. His canines lengthened and his eyes turned blood red with slits for pupils.

_I will!_

"**RAAHHRR!!" **Naruto roared and charged the bandits, smashing them into trees and flinging them away.

_Hinata, do you really love me? How could anyone love… me?_

Memories flooded his mind.

Hinata offering him her lunch one day at the academy. _I'd spilt my ramen._

Hinata offering to let him cheat of her at the Chunin exams. _Why would she risk it for me?_

Hinata boosting his spirits before the Chunin exams finals. _She was always there for me._

A beautiful figure dancing on the water. _How could I…_

…

_How could I let this happen to her!?_

Naruto growled again. He didn't _love_ Hinata, (at least, he didn't _think_ he loved her) but he cared for her. She was one of his precious people.

A sudden thought crossed his mind; she may have been delirious after being wounded, but then he realised he didn't care if she meant it.

_She's not the first person who cared for me... but she is the first to say that… _He flicked his wrist, sending a thug tumbling. _That she loves me!_

**Two years later. Konoha. Hokage's office.**

Tsunade sighed. She just couldn't keep up with all this damned paperwork. Iwa and Kumo were both threatening war. Orochimaru still had Sasuke and would soon try to take his body. They were still low on ninjas three years after the invasion. And to top it all of, Hiashi was trying to get the Hyuga council out of prison.

_**Flashback no Jutsu!**_

"_Are you sure about this Hinata?" The youthful looking Hokage stared across her desk, her hands folded in front of her. "They are very important people, and these are some pretty hefty charges."_

_The dark haired girl gasped. "Y-you mean your going to l-let them get away with this? With trying to k-kill Naruto-kun?" The Hyuga child couldn't believe it, Shino and Shikamaru both told her how protective the Hokage was of her 'little brother' and yet here she was not going after people who tried to hurt, no- murder Naruto just because they were important._

"_No!" The blond sannin slammed her hands on her desk. "They are not going to get away with this, but you do realise that when they find out you were the informer, they may try to kill you."_

_The pupil-less girl nodded. "I know, Shino and Shikamaru s-said that you could send me on a t-training trip, like Naruto-kun is on until they calm down." _

_The Sannin thought for a minute. "I have a better idea." She scribbled on a sheet of paper. "You are…" She crossed something out "Going to find Naruto and Jiraiya…" She signed the letter and folded it up. "Deliver this…" She put it in an envelope and handed it to Hinata. "And then, train with them for two years!"_

_Tsunade beamed, like putting the shy girl with her crush for two years with only a pervert for company was the best idea in the world. _This is the best idea in the world! _She thought. _Sometimes, being Hokage is too easy!

_At the thought of two years alone (well, almost alone) with Naruto, Hinata did the only thing she could think of._

_She fainted._

_**Flashback no Jutsu – Kai!**_

Tsunade groaned. What had seemed like the best idea in the world at the time had become a horrible nightmare. Sure Hinata and Naruto were improving at an astronomical rate but… Things back in the leaf village had been really bad.

When Hiashi found out that Hinata was sent to join Naruto he was furious, and tried to demand her return. Keyword-try.

Then he found that the entire Hyuga council was under arrest for plotting the assassination of a leaf village shinobi. Fortunately for him he'd never said anything during the discussions, but the fact he hadn't stopped them meant he had to tread carefully around the fifth Hokage. He was sure that his fellow council members were being interrogated by the Yamanaka family, and possibly even Ibiki Morino himself!

But as he hadn't said anything about killing the demon brat he couldn't be imprisoned.

Then he found out who had told the Hokage about the plots and plans of the Hyuga elders.

When Tsunade found out about Hiashi attempting to have his own daughter assassinated it had taken the combined strength of Shizune, Sakura and the two ANBU guards to hold her back from beating the head of the Hyuga clan into a bloody pulp.

Shortly after Hiashi had formally disowned Hinata, and announced Hanabi as clan heir.

This was actually a good thing, as now Hiashi had no control over Hinata. If he hadn't, he could have easily interfered with something Tsunade found quite cute. According to Jiraiya, Naruto and Hinata acted like a married couple, barely needing to talk to understand what each other was thinking.

This wasn't the only change in the two however, Hinata was apparently a lot more open and out going (Naruto had rubbed of on her), and Naruto would actually think before doing something. It seemed like her wonderful idea may have given her a headache, but caused Naruto and Hinata to mature greatly.

The slug sannin glanced at a calendar. _Unless that pervert holds them up they should be back today…_

**At that exact moment, just outside of Konohagakure.**

"Three?"

"Go fish. Four?"

"Go fish. Three?"

"You asked 'three' last time!"

"So, you might have just picked one up!"

"But that's stu- Hold on, someone's coming."

Kotetsu and Izumo leapt to there feet, hiding the cards.

Three figures approached the gates. One was an old man with long white hair and a red vest. (A/N: I don't really need to describe him do I?)

Next to him walked a young man about a head shorter than him. He had spiky blond hair and was wearing an open white coat that reached down past his knees and had a blue trim that rose into flames at the bottom. Under it he wore an unbuttoned black shirt, revealing his chest and stomach. He wore simple black pants and standard shinobi shoes. His hitai-ite was worn around his waist like a belt. In his left hand he held a sword (he's holding the sheath). The sheath was black with seven gold rings spaced evenly along it. The handle was easily big enough to allow for two handed use and was covered in intricate seals.

On the blonds other side was a woman with long dark blue, possibly purple hair tied into a pony tail that reached her waist. She was garbed similarly to the blond, with a white coat (this one with lilac trim) open, revealing a loose kimono top and long pants, both lavender. She like the blond wore standard shinobi shoes, but her hitai-ite was tied across her eyes. She used a purple strap to hold her sheath to her back. The handle was poking over her right shoulder, and the entire sword was much like the blonds, although hers was white compared to his black it also has seven golden rings along the sheath and intricate seals on the handle. Apart from the colour the only difference between the swords are the patterns on the sheaths. The blonds are sharp and jagged, turning suddenly in on themselves, seeming to writhe as if in pain, whilst the purple haired shinobi's to flowed across the handle, seeming to shimmer and ripple like water.

"Halt, state your name and reason for entering Konoha." Kotetsu spoke up as the trio reached the gates.

"You idiot" Izumo nudged him "Don't you recognize Jiraiya-sama of the sannin?"

"I recognize him it's those two I don't know!"

The blond looked shocked. "Aw come on! How can you not remember the future Hokage!?" The girl grabbed his arm and raised one eyebrow. "Yeah I guess your right… it has been three years."

The two guards stood still for a moment and until…

**5…4…3…2…1… Now!**

"Naruto! Hinata! Wow you two have grown!"

"You'd better go meet the Hokage before you do anything else, she's expecting you."

**Twenty minutes later, inside the Hokage's office.**

"Well if that's all obaa-chan we'll get going now." The blond turned to go. "Hinata-chan and I have to meet all the others… actually, could you get them to meet us at training ground 13 please? But don't tell them it's us, say it's some compulsory new training or something." The fifth Hokage nodded and waved for them to leave.

As Jiraiya tried to leave however she grabbed his jacket. "Oh no you don't! You have to give me the _full_ report. I want to know every little jutsu they know." Jiraiya pouted and slumped down in a seat. He was way behind on his 'research' because both Naruto and Hinata kept interfering all the time.

**One hour later, training ground 13.**

The Konoha 12 (minus Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata of course) had all met up on the way to training ground 13. No-one knew why they were all being called there but Sakura thought it was for some sort of special training thing.

"YOSH! With additional training my fires of youth shall burn brighter than ever before! This is indeed a great day!" That was of course, Lee who was of course, ignored.

"Well, what kind of training could we all do together? I mean it's not like we all share a style or something." Sakura sounded bored, but she was in fact incredibly excited about extra training, if it was important enough to get all of them together it had to be good.

Shikamaru groaned, "It's probably something that none of us are good at, light Genjutsu… how troublesome…"

Suddenly Neji spoke up (oh my god!) "It appears our 'teachers' are here already."

The group looked ahead, and sure enough two people sat under a tree waiting for them. The couple were dressed in white cloaks (jacket/coat things, like what the fourth wears) and both had swords.

"What the, they're only our age! How can they teach all of us?" Ino screeched.

The girl looked up at her. "We are here not so much to teach you, as to test you Yamanaka-san."

"Alright, does anyone else think it's freaky that she's looking at me with a headband _covering her eyes!_"

"I can hear you Yamanaka-san." The girl stated; she must have good hearing because Ino had been mumbling.

"Umm, so what are your names anyway?" Sakura tried to help her fried out of an awkward situation.

"And how did you know I was a Yamanaka?" The others nodded. Then the boy spoke up drawing attention to himself.

"I told her; we are leaf shinobi and I recognised you after seeing you with your father once." Upon seeing his open chest many of the girls drooled.

_Whoa… he's HOT!_ Almost as if she could see them the purple haired woman slid over, grabbing his arm and resting her head on his shoulder.

Kiba whistled, _whew he's one lucky *bleep*_. "So, what kind of a _test_ is it?"

"Put quite simply, a series of duals. You guys all pair up and we see which pair can beat us." He started.

"But you are picked randomly; we've already had the Hokage pick pairs, since we don't know all of you." The girl finished. It wasn't true, but the others didn't need to know that.

"Alright, the first pair is Sakura and Lee." The white cloaked couple stood and walked into the middle of the field that was training ground 13. About one third of the training ground was covered by a small lake, and it was rimmed with trees.

"YOSH! Sakura-chan! I will show you how brightly our fires of youth burn together!"

The couple sweat dropped and drew their swords. "Alright, no lethal force, keep fighting until we are either unable to continue or give up." Seeing Lee nod the blond continued. "Ok then, lets fight!"

**A/N: Ok I'll try to keep chapters at least this length now:**

**I **_**will**_** be having flashbacks to the timeskip, showing Naruto and Hinata's training and the development of their relationship, but first to see what they can actually do! On to the next chapter: Memories of Defeat!**

**Please Read and Review, if I haven't explained something properly or if I've missed something don't hesitate to tell me!**


	2. Chapter 2: Memories and Defeat

Disclaimer: I own many things, but the Naruto franchise is not one of them.

**Naruto: The Heart of the Storm**

Chapter Two: Memories and Defeat

"YOSH! I shall overwhelm you with my flames of youth!" Suddenly Lee paused. "But wait, you did not actually give us your names!"

"Oh yeah, well I'm Discord," The blond pointed to himself "And she is Harmony."

Sakura sweat dropped. "They aren't your real names… are they?"

The blond grinned and scratched his head. "YOSH! I have it! They will not tell us their names until we have beaten them! Is that correct?"

The purple haired girl nodded then started talking before Lee could congratulate himself. "Good work Lee-san, I suppose we forgot to mention that, but we should probably begin, don't you agree?"

Lee nodded vigorously. "Yes, and I shall make the first move!" With that Lee sped forward, aiming for the blond. Just as he reached him he leapt into a spinning kick that the blond shinobi blocked with his sheath. (A/N: remember he holds it almost all the time.)

The spandex clad Chunin flipped backwards, before dashing around to attack from behind. The blond spun to face him and as Lee approached slammed his sheath into the ground. A large chunk of earth lifted up to create a wall between the two ninja. Lee simply jumped over it, but the blond was gone. Landing gracefully he searched trying to find him.

Meanwhile, Sakura had slipped on her gloves and dashed at her opponent, the girl with the white and lilac coat who was 'watching' Lee and her partner sparring. "You should pay attention to your opponent!" She reared back her fist and…

Her punch went straight through her! _A clone! _The image of the girl vanished, but when Sakura looked around, she couldn't find her. Lee appeared to be having the same problem; his opponent was missing too.

And then… they were back. 'Discord' slammed his sheath into the side of Sakura's head and 'Harmony' kicked Lee from behind, sending him spiralling at the blond who flipped backwards, jumping of him in the air and landed next to his partner. The Guy clone almost crashed into Sakura, but spun in the air, placing his feet on the pink haired shinobi's hand. The pinkette caught on immediately and thrust her fist at the two shinobi. "Sakura-Lee Cannon!"

Lee flew forwards at breakneck speeds and stuck his arms out to the sides to coat hanger the pair. Discord however drew his sword, a pure black blade with golden swirls all over. He swung the blade as hard as he could and a giant gust of wind erupted around him, heading straight for the incoming green missile.

When Lee collided with the wall of air it exploded, the shockwave pushed Lee back over towards Sakura. In the air Lee realised that if Discord could knock him back when he'd been travelling at those speeds it could be deadly if he was hit again.

So Lee took of his weights.

Seeing this the pink haired shinobi realised the Chunin was getting serious. As Lee vanished from her sight she smashed her chakra laden fist into the ground sending a tremor at her opponents.

"Harmony!" The blond dashed towards Sakura, waving his sheath in front of him, somehow the earth settled back into place as he did so. Sakura prepared to punch him but then he vanished again, only to appear with his sword to her throat. "Surrender."

Lee saw Discord leap forward, but it was a blur. _How can he move that fast? I could barely see him! _

"You should pay attention to your opponent." Lee snapped his neck around only to see Harmony swing her sword at him. Unlike with Discords there was no giant blast of air, and Lee paused for a second in confusion. Then a giant wave hit him.

After the water had receded he easily stood to his feet but then saw the position Sakura was in. "…I surrender." Lee sounded almost sad. "YOSH! Your fires of youth burn most brightly! Guy-Sensei will be thrilled to hear about as youthful people as yourselves!"

Discord and Harmony sweat dropped. "Uhh… right… so who wants to go next?"

The Konoha 12 thought for a moment. Shikamaru and Ino's jutsu were useless against the couple because they were to fast, almost as fast as Lee! Choji knew he wouldn't be able to hit them with his Human Boulder technique because Discord could shake the ground. Shino and Akamaru (and Kiba as well he just wouldn't admit it) wouldn't be able to (or just wouldn't like) getting wet and Harmony could easily inundate them. Tenten's weapons would just be knocked away by the air like had happened before against Temari. _I have to find a way to stop that!_ The only person who stood a chance against them was Neji, and even with Byakugan he couldn't fight them both at the same time.

"We give up!"

"Oh, phew!" Discord and Harmony both started panting and leaning on their swords. "Those attacks were a lot bigger than we usually use; if you had kept fighting we would have run low on chakra!"

The Konoha 12 performed a rather impressive collective facefault.

Harmony and Discord took one look at them, then looked at each other and burst out laughing. As they stood up Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Wait, you looked at him, and you saw all of us fall over…" He gasped.

"So you got it huh Shikamaru?" The blond stood up. The others all had confused looks on their faces.

"But that means she could see through her hitai-ite, and to do that you'd need the Byakugan or some…thing… like… it…" Neji's eyes widened.

'Harmony' got up to stand next to 'Discord'. She pulled her hitai-ite of revealing pupil-less eyes. "I do have the Byakugan, Neji-nii-san."

"Hinata! But that means-" Sakura couldn't believe it. She'd been beaten by the shyest girl in their year and NARUTO! The dead-last! _Although he definitely isn't dead-last anymore… and damn he's gotten hot! Wait, Naruto hot? _Sakura shivered.

_Damn! Hinata's grown, and not just up!_ Thinking along these lines Kiba almost got a nosebleed. (the pervert.)

"YOSH! Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan's flames of youth burn brighter than I had expected! To be able to defeat Sakura-chan and myself is most impressive!" He did his thumbs up pose, and both Naruto and Hinata blinked to avoid being blinded by his shiny teeth.

"When did you guys get back?" Kiba asked.

"Only this morning, Kiba-kun.

Then Tenten spoke up. "What's with the swords? Can I see them? They look awesome!" Tenten rushed through her questions, it was obvious she was _really_ interested in the two shinobi's swords.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the kunoichi's behaviour. He'd only really seen Tenten ate the Chunin exams, and so although he knew she used weapons, he had no idea she was such a fan of them.

"Well… uh… sure." He held up his sheath and drew the sword. "This is Atsureki-" He began, before Tenten suddenly cut in.

"ATSUREKI!" She screamed. "_You_ have _Atsureki!?"_ She spun to face Hinata. "But that means that you have Enkatsu!"

The two nodded. And Tenten realised that no-one knew what was so special about the two swords. "Atsureki, or Discord, is one of a pair of blades, the other is Enkatsu – Harmony." She began. "Not only are both swords incredibly powerful and well made, but the sheaths are designed to be used in combat too. By channelling chakra into either the blade or the sheath you can do different things.

"Atsureki can create blades of wind, but Naruto used it to create a wall of wind, that means…" Naruto raised an eyebrow as Tenten thought. "That means that he could probably use it to carve up this training ground with ease! I mean if it's made for small blades, then to do a blast like that is…" Tenten started drooling.

A small cough interrupted her imaginings. "Oh, right sorry. Anyway Atsureki's sheath can break the ground beneath the wielder into clumps, and shift them, effectively making close combat a lot harder because the wielder would be used to the shifting center of balance, but their opponent isn't." She gasped. "And that rock wall you made was like the wall of air!" She started drooling again but snapped out of it herself.

"Enkatsu on the other hand uses water. The blade absorbs water from the air and can use it to make blades or whips that can be used long range, it's like a jutsu without the handsigns! Hinata used it much the same way Naruto used Atsureki, by pumping much more chakra into it then needed to make the effect a brute force one, rather then the supple effect it's made for." Tenten looked around at the others. "If they had used their swords like they were made to be used; Sakura and Lee would be dead right now."

After waiting for that to sink in Tenten continued. "As you can guess the swords are used for offence and the sheaths for defence. But rather than using earth to defend the wielder, Enkatsu uses fire."

"What! How can fire be a defence? All it does is burn stuff!" The Inuzaka interrupted.

"Exactly. Would you run into a ball of fire?"

The Konoha 12 looked at each other, then at Naruto and Hinata, and their swords. They realised just how powerful the pair had become.

Ino slid up to Naruto's side, "So… just how strong are you Naruto-_kun?_" Shikamaru groaned at Ino's shameless flirting, but it was Hinata's reaction that shocked the group. She grabbed Naruto's shoulder and pulled him down into a hug, and slammed their lips together. As Naruto responded (by deepening the kiss and wrapping his arms around her) Kiba wolf whistled, Choji stopped eating (for a second or two), Shino stood still, Ino and Sakura gaped and Tenten tried to calm Neji down.

The Hyuga prodigy was staring wide eyed at the couple, his eyebrows raised and his eyes twitching. "Wha… bu…and… Hinata-sama!"

"YOSH! Congratulations you two! You have found happiness in the fiery passion of your youth!" Cue collective sweat drop.

The couple broke apart (but kept their arms around each other) and looked at the group. "Oh… yeah, we uh… we're kinda together now… yeah…" Naruto scratched the back of his head.

Suddenly the girls squealed and dragged Hinata away, ruthlessly interrogating her on what had happened on the trip. The guys on the other hand were trying to restrain Neji, who seemed set on beating Naruto into the next century. With his fingers. Chakra enhanced fingers to be sure, but fingers none-the-less.

"Geez Neji calm down! You take your job of protecting Hinata way too seriously." (I know it's a role not a job but – eh – it's Kiba) Kiba was pushing against the Hyuga but when he spoke Neji stopped.

In fact, everyone except him and Choji seemed to stop and stiffen.

"Um… guys, what happened?" Seeing the looks on their faces the Akimichi and Inuzaka knew something bad had happened.

"No-one likes to talk about it, so it's no surprise you haven't heard." Both boys cocked their heads in confusion. Neji took a deep breath before continuing. "Hinata-sama is no longer a Hyuga."

**A/N: Wow. I really didn't mean to make this into a cliff hanger but… eh it happened. It just felt right to stop there, and explain what happened next chapter. On a related note; how much of the training trip do you guys actually want to see (via flashbacks and possibly just through conversation)? I've already decided on a few key moments (Naruto and Hinata's first kiss, getting their swords) that sort of thing. What do you want to see?**

**So, please review with your ideas and opinions! Until next chapter: Hyuga no more!**


	3. Chapter 3: Hyuga no More

Disclaimer: I own many things, but the Naruto franchise is not one of them.

A/N: I got a review last chapter about how powerful Naruto and Hinata are compared to the rest of the Konoha 11. I will say that they are more powerful than the others (not just those two against all but like one on one), but that's to be expected after training with a sannin among others for two years (three for Naruto, just to get him to understand the basics). The others will be more powerful it's just that I picked Sakura and Lee because they have changed styles the least. Now, on with the chapter!

**Naruto: The Heart of the Storm**

Chapter Three: Hyuga no More

Neji took a deep breath before continuing. "Hinata-sama is no longer a Hyuga."

"What! But how? I mean she's the clan heir?" Kiba couldn't believe it, and Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto shook his head and sat down. The girls were subdued by Kiba's outburst and came over. Hinata went straight to Naruto and sat in his lap with his arms wrapped around her. "No Kiba-kun, when… certain events transpired fath… Hiashi-sama evicted me from the Hyuga clan, and placed Hanabi as clan heir. It was big news but…"

"Hiashi's _other_ actions were brought to the attention of the Hokage." Shino leant forwards before continuing. "Hokage-sama was… less than pleased, and imposed strict regulations upon the activities of the Hyuga clan."

Shikamaru spoke up. "Not just the Hyuga clan, all clans were affected, but it was the actions of the Hyuga that caused the Hokage to change laws. It used to be that clans were run with only the broadest of input from the Hokage. Tsunade-sama has now imposed many different restrictions upon _all_ clans, but it seems most of them only affect the Hyuga."

Kiba scratched his head. "Oh yeah, that's why the Hokage always sends someone to our clan meetings now isn't it?"

Choji nodded. "But what did the Hyuga clan do to make the Hokage change the way the clans are run so much?"

All eyes turned to Neji, who looked up and Naruto and Hinata. When they nodded slightly he took a deep breath and began his explanation. "You may have heard that the Hyuga council was arrested about two years ago?" Seeing everyone remembered he continued. "Only a few know the reason for this, it was said that Hiashi-_sama,_" He almost spat the title, "Turned the council in for treason. The real reason is that Hinata overheard them plotting the assassination of a leaf village shinobi."

There was a collective gasp as the group turned to face Hinata. "The attempted murder of one of one's own comrades is most un-youthful. Who was it that they tried to kill?"

Hinata snuggled closer to Naruto who hugged her tighter. "Me. They wanted to kill me." Another collective gasp; this time of disbelief. Sure he as annoying, but why would anyone try to kill Naruto?

Neji coughed, getting the groups attention. He knew why the Hyuga had wanted to kill Naruto, but figured it was a sensitive subject for the blond. "It was at this time that Hanabi was instituted as clan heir, but something worse happened only a week before that."

Shino and Shikamaru, who Hinata had talked to when she found out about the Hyuga council's plot looked up. They knew everything that had just been said, but what had happened that they didn't know about? "Hiashi_-sama…_ hired bandits… to kill his own daughter."

(A/N: When I wrote this bit I was seriously tempted to do either a _really_ short chapter, or find some way to extend it and use this as a cliff hanger. Be thankful I wanted to give you the rest of the story instead of a cliffie...)

**Ten minutes later, Training ground 13.**

The Konoha 11 had been furious when they discovered the head of the _noble_ Hyuga clan had tried to have Hinata killed. Once their anger had died down and they realised that slaughtering Hiashi in his sleep would make them just as bad as him they sat in silence.

"YOSH! I know what will cheer us up!" Everyone winced as Lee broke the silence. "We shall continue our tournament!" The others looked puzzled. "It is simple. Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan have one the first round! Who is in the second match?"

Somehow, the group decided returning to the competition (that wasn't a competition in the first place) was a good idea. Of course, anything that got them thinking about other things was a good idea.

"Alright then, the next match is Neji and Choji against Ino and Shino." Naruto picked Hinata up bridal style and moved to sit against a tree at the edge of the field. The others sat around them and turned to watch the match.

Lee stood in between the pairs. "Ready! Three…Two…One… GO!" With that Lee dashed back and Neji activated his Byakugan.

Noticing Shino's bugs flanking them Neji glanced at Choji. "Use your human boulder jutsu and attack Ino… I will take care of Shino." Choji nodded and flicked through the hand signs.

"Human Boulder no Jutsu!" Choji's body inflated and he rolled at Ino, who ran straight at him and jumped, spiralling over him and stringing together hand signs.

"Shinobi Army no Jutsu!" Ino shouted, and vanished as an army of shinobi appeared. The army was composed of about one hundred ninja, of different rank and appearance, and some looked like ninja's from the village. (A/N: One of my own jutsu, a Genjutsu since I think the Yamanaka's would use them.) Choji spun around and aimed back for the mob of shinobi. He rolled through but the shinobi he touched simply flickered.

Neji could see were Ino was, but before he could tell Choji Shino's bugs attacked. A huge swarm burst out of the grass and Neji used a Kaiten to shred them to pieces. Shino winced slightly at the loss of his bugs, but he had planned this. With each bug Neji shredded a small squirt of a paralysing poison was released. As soon as Neji finished spinning he realised he was in trouble.

He shot forwards, just managing to avoid being drenched in the sticky substance that he guessed was poisonous. Unfortunately for him, he could no longer move his left leg. As Shino advanced, drawing a kunai the Hyuga prodigy jabbed a few chakra points in his leg, boosting the chakra flow through them allowing him to move his leg through sheer manipulation of chakra. (A/N: in this story chakra nodes and tenketsu are different. Any Hyuga can attack chakra points, but Neji is one of the few that can attack tenketsu.)

Shino realised his mistake too late, and shot forwards but Neji simply jabbed his fingers at him. Even though he was still a few meters away Shino collapsed. "What…. How did you? Hm, interesting. It appears that you have discovered how to use Juken strikes at a distance, by increasing the chakra out put and focus. Very impressive-" Shino broke of as Neji had begun shooting Juken strikes at him. Unfortunately they had no effect.

"What, how come Shino isn't being affected by Juken?" Tenten wasn't surprised at Neji's Juken Bullets, as she was the one he developed it against.

Hinata took a quick look at Shino before responding. (She always has Byakugan on, except to sleep) "Shino-kun has gathered his kikai in the front of his body, they are eating the chakra Neji shoots at him. If Neji could get behind him he could strike, but Shino's bugs would easily be able to move to block it."

Tenten looked worried. "Neji's never used this many Juken Bullets before… I'm not sure he can keep it up."

Suddenly Hinata figured out what was going on. "Hey guys, look over and Ino and Choji." When they looked they didn't see what they expected. The shinobi army was vanishing, and suddenly it was gone completely. Choji shrunk back to his normal size as Ino collapsed. "Whoa… Neji-kun was closing of her tenketsu with every few strikes. He was attacking Shino to keep him focused on blocking the strikes, not what else Neji was doing."

Naruto grinned. It looked like his next fight would be against Choji and Neji. Seeing Ino collapse, the Aburame considered his options. He could probably defeat Choji with his bugs, but first he had to beat Neji. He decided, if this worked he would win, if not he would forfeit.

He flicked through hand signs with a speed that even Neji couldn't follow. "Destruction Bugs:" A huge swarm lifted into the air around Shino. "Shredding Storm no Jutsu!" A gust picked up around the stoic teen, sending his Kikai soaring at the Hyuga.

"Kaiten!" The bugs and swirling chakra clashed, it seemed the Kaiten would hold but Shino threw a single kunai. The kunai was not normal however; it was made from a special metal that absorbed chakra, if you held it to long you could die due to chakra exhaustion. The kunai easily pierced the Kaiten, but Neji simply ducked, His Kaiten was cancelled and the bugs attacked.

"Doton: Rockslide no Jutsu!" Choji slammed his fist into the ground and a flurry of rocks and small boulders crushed the bugs before the swarm could reach Neji.

"I forfeit." The victorious teens stood blinking as Shino strode over to Ino and helped her to her feet. "Are you alright Yamanaka-san?"

Ino brushed herself of. "Yeah I'm fine, Neji's bullet thingies don't seem to block for too long if your too far away… And Shino-kun?"

"Yes Yamanaka-san?"

"Call me Ino." With that the blond flicked her head and strutted purposefully back to the group, swinging her hips a lot more then necessary. With her Byakugan Hinata noticed Shino blushed as he followed behind Ino, so she giggled.

When Naruto asked what was so funny she whispered in his ear were Shino had been watching. "No way! He really!?" Hinata glanced at Naruto to silence him, and then they both started laughing.

"YOSH! That was indeed a most youthful display of the power of the fires of youth!"

Kiba got to his feet with Akamaru. "Well boy, looks like it's us against lazy ass and Tenten huh." Akamaru yelped. "Yeah, we'll flog em."

Shikamaru and Tenten stood up and got into their battle stances. Kiba threw a soldier pill to his companion. "Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry Jutsu! Ninja Art: Man Beast Clone!"

**A/N: I know it's a bit short but I have to pack for my holidays! Yeah beach in summer, good times (live in Aus so it's summer here.) Anyway cause of the Holiday I wont be able to update for a bit over a week but I **_**will**_** have a laptop there so I'll be able to put up the fourth chapter when I get back. **

**So, tell me what you think of this story; too fast? Too slow? Too much action or not enough? Want more romance? The pairings are coming together now so I hope you enjoy them. Also, if anyone wants to be my beta just PM me or leave a review! Thankyou all for reading!**

**Until next time: The End of the Beginning!**


	4. Chapter 4: The End of the Beginning

A/N: I received a review from shadeywon08 with two main points. First was that I should get over the introduction and get on with the story (although he said it a lot nicer) and the second was asking if this fic was Saku/Lee or Saku/Kiba. The other pairs are pretty much set now but I've decided to give you all a chance to decide involving Sakura, I can fit it in either way. Just to let you know, I am of the opinion that no-one could still 'love' someone after they knocked you out to run away and stabbed your team-mate through the chest with an assassination technique. So send a review saying who you vote Sakura should be with. Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**The Heart of the Storm.**

Chapter Four: The End of the Beginning

Chapter four: The end of the Beginning

"Ready, go!" Lee leapt back as Kiba and Akamaru shot forwards, splitting up to circle around Tenten and Shikamaru.

"Gatsuga!" It was almost like a battle cry. As the two grey cyclones approached the two ninja prepared to retaliate. Just before they were hit they sprung into action.

Tenten un-sealed a scythe and swung it around, catching Akamaru and flinging him at Kiba, who sensed Akamaru's approach and stopped spinning trying to catch him.

"Kagemane no Jutsu success!" Kiba was caught, but almost as soon as Shikamaru had him he let go, he was just stalling him.

It worked, Akamaru stopped spinning but was still airborne and crashed into Kiba with a resounding thud. Tenten smirked but Shikamaru frowned. "It's not over yet Tenten." The Nara sighed. "Kiba's being troublesome." Both Kiba's vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "So they _were_ shadow clones… it's interesting that Kiba gave them _both_ enough chakra to use Gatsuga… He must have a lot more chakra then when we left, huh Hinata-chan?" The indigo haired girl nodded and searched around with her Byakugan.

Shikamaru suddenly spun and tackled Tenten to the ground, moments later a tree trunk soared over them. The two scrambled to get up and looked at where the tree had come from, only to see four Kiba's go up in smoke.

The blond shinobi frowned. "They're not shadow clones, at least, not entirely… something's different."

Hinata spoke up. "It seems he does use shadow clone jutsu, but he uses a weak chakra pill in each one to allow it to do a few moves before dispersing."

The number one hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja chuckled. "So his clones can probably take a few hits too… he didn't show that before because he wanted it to be a surprise."

Hinata frowned, mimicking Naruto's earlier expression. "Hmm… I don't think they can… it seems as if he creates the clone using chakra straight from the pill, so they're not really shadow clones, they're… pill clones I guess."

Sakura gasped. "But that means he can make as many clones as he has pills and not use any of his own chakra… that's incredible! How can he do that?"

The Aburame spoke up. "It is his own Jutsu Haruno-san. He created it to help him defeat Uzumaki-sans clones." He shifted to the side. "But your analysis is slightly inacurate. Each clone does use a small amount of his chakra in order to ensure they have his appearance."

Shikamaru leant over and whispered in Tenten's ear. As the pineapple haired boy outlined his plan they both swept the surrounding area, trying to find Kiba. "So, you got that?" The weapons mistress nodded "Good, then lets go."

The pair ran into the center of the clearing, with Skikamaru leading the way. Kiba lay prone in a tree, watching, wondering what plan Shikamaru had come up with, and what he and Akamaru (who was hiding behind the tree) could do to throw a spanner in the works.

As the two shinobi reached the middle of the field Shikamaru spun and cupped his hands. Tenten stepped on them as he threw her up. "Ninja Art! Ring of Impalement no Jutsu!" She flicked out her scroll and spun it around her as she rose. When she reached the top of her arc she began to spiral around, the scroll circling her as weapons began to rain out into the trees. The 'ring' of weapons began to shrink and the watching ninja glanced at each other. Naruto quickly flipped his sword up into the air and slammed the sheath down hard, creating a rock wall that crumbled when the weapons had passed.

_Oh crap!_ Kiba and Akamaru burst from the tree they'd being hiding in as a mace, an axe and what looked suspiciously like an iron maiden shattered their wooden barrier. The Inuzuka reached into his ninja pouch and flung some chakra pills at Shikamaru. Flicking through a few hand signs and settling on Naruto's signature sign the brown haired boy yelled "Ninja Art! Chakra Pill Clone no Jutsu!"

Five pills became five Kiba's who all shot at the pineapple headed shinobi, dropping on all fours to perform Kiba's signature move, Gatsuga.

Before they had started to spin however they all froze in place. "Tajuu Kagemane no Jutsu. Success." As Tenten landed next to him Shikamaru reached into his jacket and pulled out seven exploding tags. The Kiba's (including Akamaru) who mimicked him, but were Shikamaru pulled out explosives Kiba pulled out a dog bone. "We win huh?" The Kiba clones (and Akamaru) growled and strained against the shadow possession, but couldn't get free.

"I surrender." The Kiba clones vanished, leaving the real Kiba and Akamaru standing there. The Inuzuka threw the bone to Akamaru who easily swallowed the treat whole.

Tenten opened her scroll and with a giant tug all the weapons were lifted up, pulled through the air and re-sealed.

"YOSH! That was a most effective strategy! It clearly showed how brightly your flames of youth burn!"

"Thanks Lee." Shikamaru turned to Tenten.

"You can understand him?"

"Of course, he's my team-mate, and he _is _copying our sensei… But shouldn't you be able to figure it out?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Huh, it's much too…" He trailed off.

"Troublesome?" Supplied Choji.

"Yeah, and pointless, if he's anything like his sensei when he has something important to say it'll come out normal… I hope."

**At (almost) the same time, but not the same place.**

While the Konoha 11 were watching Kiba take on the lazy genius and the weapons mistress, Tsunade, grand-daughter of the First Hokage, grand-niece of the Second Hokage, student of the Third Hokage, friend of the Fourth Hokage, herself the Fifth Hokage, was sleeping.

She would have been snoring, but as she was lying back in her chair, gravity conspired with her un-naturally large assets to give her only enough oxygen to keep her alive. It was because of this Shizune was unaware that her mentor was asleep, and when she rushed into the office babbling she assumed she would get a response.

_Not again Tsunade!_ _This is definitely Not the time for this! Alright, Plan E!_ "Hm, what have we here, Tsunade's secret stash of sake?" The blond Hokage woke up, spluttering and leapt over to a filing cabinet. From her position at the doors she could hear the Slug Sannin mumbling about saving her 'precious'.

"Um… Tsunade… There's a message here for you. It's urgent." When Shizune spoke the blond woke up properly, closed the filing cabinet, smoothed out her robe and took the letter. "It's an immediate request for an A-rank mission. Who should we send?"

The Sannin had just finished reading the letter, and was pondering the answer to the same question. "I'm not sure who we can send. We'd need at least Jonin level ninja to deal with this, but all of our Jonin are either already on missions, or have just returned…"

"How many ninja do you need?" Jiraiya's voice interrupted the frantic musings of both women.

"More than we have available… two or three, all Jonin level, and we've only really got Chunin not doing anything at the moment. We're having to use Anbu to do our long range patrols and village defence. We lost almost one-hundred ninja either during the invasion or in the months that followed as other countries 'rouge' ninja tested our defences."

"Well, why not send Hinata and Naruto?" The toad sage offered.

"Did you hear the part that I said _Jonin_? They may have gotten better but they're still only Genin." Tsunade thought of Naruto as a little brother, or possibly even a son, and here was Jiraiya trying to send him into a situation he couldn't possibly handle, even with Hinata's help.

"You're right, they have gotten stronger, but they've been trained to take out large numbers of hostiles, and they're both easily mid-Jonin level strength. I said that before, if you let them take the Jonin exam they'd cream it!"

"Look, no matter how strong _you_ say they are this mission still needs a few _certified_ Jonin."

"How about Kakashi goes with them? He may not be ready to go on another S-rank mission, but he should be fine on an A-rank, against only a couple of dozen bandits. Besides, Jiraiya-sama's report does seem to indicate that Naruto-otuoto and Hinata-chan can deal with it." Shizune may have thought of Naruto as a brother, but she always thought that Tsunade was a bit too protective of the blond shinobi.

The fifth Hokage sighed. "Fine, Shizune send a messenger to get them."

**About one minute later, back at training ground 13.**

As the Konoha 11 laughed, the group noticed a messenger approach. "Excuse me. Naruto-sama and Hinata-san?" The two looked up at the messenger. "You are requested at the Hokage's office, you have a two day mission." The man vanished.

"What!? A two day mission! But we only just got back!" The pair stood up and bowed (Hinata bowed and pulled Naruto down with her) to the group. As the pair rose Hinata grabbed Naruto's arm and they shushin'd away.

"Whoa! You see that! They can do Shushin! Dang, I gotta get someone to teach me how to do that." Sometimes Kiba is very easily impressed.

**Meanwhile, back at the Hokage's office.**

When the two arrived in Tsunade's office they bowed (same as before) and stood at attention. Naruto opened his mouth to speak but 'Harmony' tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced at her and received a look that said, 'You promised me you wouldn't'. He quickly closed his mouth again.

Tsunade jaw dropped. She had been trying to get Naruto to be quite and respectful for what seemed like forever, and here Hinata could do it with a simple glance! It was amazing.

What Naruto said next amazed her even more. "Tsunade-sama, you requested our presence?"

Now Shizune's jaw dropped as well. Jiraiya on the other hand had seen it before and had gotten used to it. "Kid, they've got a mission for the two of you, but since Tsunade-hime doesn't know of your skills, Kakashi is being sent along to evaluate you."

The slug Sannin shook her head to clear it. "Yes, it's an A-rank mission. Between twenty to thirty bandits are holding an entire inn hostage, estimated civilian hostages number at least fifteen. If the bandits demands aren't met within forty-eight hours they're going to start killing hostages. You two will need to take them out before _any_ of the civilians are killed."

"So this is a rescue and destroy mission Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, here are your dossiers, meet Kakashi at the front gate in two hours, the inn is about twelve hours travel so bring some soldier pills." The Hokage thought for a moment. "And, don't let Kakashi know it's you, unless you have to. Think of it as a secondary mission objective. Now get going!"

"Right." The two nodded and shushin'd away.

**A/N: Okay, now that that's out of the way Naruto and Hinata's first mission is next. **

**Remember to review and vote for Saku/Kiba or Saku/Lee. You have until the end of this mission to vote. Please review, even if it isn't to vote. I'd like to know what people think of this story, good/bad, did you like the little showcase of fights or should they be longer, Naruto and Hinata too strong? Anything, tell me. Please.**

**Until next time: The Inn Under Siege.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Inn Under Siege

A/N: Sorry this took so long but I really wasn't happy with this chapter. I rewrote it quite a few times. Anyway, I'll hopefully be updating about one chapter a week. Remember to vote for Saku/Lee or Saku/Kiba. So far I have four votes for Saku/Lee and two for Saku/Kiba, so if you like Kiba you'd better vote fast!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**The Heart of the Storm.**

Chapter Five: The Inn Under Siege

It was a good day for the Copycat Ninja known as Kakashi Hatake. He'd been released from hospital a week ago and was due back on active duty in a day or two. He'd been waiting for that to happen with anticipation. He was so bored!

Then, like an angel, an Anbu appeared and said he was requested at the Hokage's office. After arriving he'd been told that he'd be observing a mission that would act as a live test. He had to determine if the two ninja were of Jonin capacity. To this end he was only to step in if one of the hostages were in immediate danger.

He hadn't been told the identity of the two nins, Tsunade said is was something about not wanting to cloud his judgement.

He'd pack and was currently on his way to the city gate. He paid a brief visit to the memorial stone but since Tsunade had warned him about the deadline (and threatened to burn his books) he didn't stay long.

Upon reaching the gates he noticed two Konoha Ninja similarly dressed in white coats with different coloured trims. The man had blue whilst the woman had lilac. "Well, I guess it's you two I'm baby sitting huh?"

The blonds mouth quirked, but Kakashi couldn't see it; the pair were wearing masks that covered their entire faces. The man wore a canine mask with jagged lines through its fur. The woman's mask was completely white and perfectly smooth, with only the barest impression of a face. Since it had no eye holes Kakashi assumed the woman was a Hyuga, and given their matching coats and swords he assumed they were a couple. Well, the fact that they were resting against each other and holding hands kind of gave it away too.

The woman shook he blond haired companions shoulder to get his attention. "Discord my dear, get up, our company is here." Her voice was soft, almost angelic.

The man growled and stood up, helping the woman to her feet. "So he is Harmony…" Discord's voice was rough, resembling an animal trying to talk. "Are you ready to leave Hatake-san?" He glanced at Kakashi.

The silver haired Jonin nodded and the trio sped away from the gates.

**Twelve hours later, at inn near the border of Fire country and Grass country.**

A small bird perched on a branch. It twittered and took flight as three shadows shot overhead. The bird flew for a few scant seconds but the shadows seemed to pursue it. Suddenly they stopped. The frightened creature briefly settled down on top of a large wooden beam before flitting away again.

The building the bird had landed on was obviously old. It was two stories, and made out of large rocks held together by decaying mortar. Vines covered the lower half of the walls, with evenly spaced gaps over the windows. A low wooden fence surrounded the property looking like it was in great need of repair.

The shadows didn't care about the state of the fence however; they had more pressing things to worry about. Like the group of three guards leaning up against the front wall surrounding the door.

"Harmony," The blond growled. "Where are they all?"

The indigo haired kunoichi was silent for a moment. "There are another three at the back door and two right inside the front door. When you enter there is a small hallway, doors immediately left and right, staircase two meters in. The hostages are in the room on the right with four, no, five guards. I'll take them, there are…" She counted quickly. "Another seven hostiles upstairs, two in a room at the top of the stairs, two in a room to the right across the hallway and three on the left, close side. Last four are on the ground floor on the left." She finished.

Discord turned to face Kakashi. "Hatake-san, head around the back and take out the guards there, we don't want them getting away. When you're done come inside, by that time, this will all be over." He placed his hands together and whispered "Shadow-clone Jutsu." Two clones popped into existence. They all fell backwards off the branch, flicking through handsigns. "Earth Release: Inner Decapitation no Jutsu" The three Discords hissed, before sinking into the ground.

Harmony glanced at Kakashi. At least, the copycat ninja _thought_ she glanced at him. "Get going Kakashi-sama." She flicked through a few handsigns before she disappeared whispering "Chameleon no Jutsu." As Kakashi left he saw the three guards vanish as they were sucked under ground, the blond and his two clones taking their places.

As soon as Kakashi was out of sight 'Discord' summoned four more clones and lightly tapped on the door. One of the guards in it opened it. "I swear if you need another toilet break I'll-" Naruto stabbed him, grabbed his jacket and pulled him outside. The second guard never got a chance to be stunned as a kunai entered his brain.

Two Naruto clones crouched near the door on the left as the others darted upstairs. When all the Discords were in position Harmony whistled.

CRASH! The blond intruders smashed down the doors, bursting into the rooms and taking out the bandits in under a second. During that second the real Naruto broke down the door to the dining room where the hostages were being held. Hinata leapfrogged over him and jabbed at the two guards nearest her.

They fell down dead, courtesy of a Juken strike straight to the heart. Leaping across the room she slammed her palm into the chest of one of the bandits, lashed out her foot and slammed another's head into the ground. "DON'T MOVE!"

Naruto straightened up to see the last bandit (his clones had dispelled after clearing out the others) hiding behind a well dressed woman, a broad dagger against her throat. "Back off blondie!" He yelled. "You try to kill me and this bitch is dead!"

Naruto chuckled. "I don't need to even _try_ to kill you." He raised his head, red slitted pupils visible through the eye holes in his mask. **"You're already dead!"** The man almost pissed himself when the blonde's voice became demonic, but didn't have the chance. Hinata had hit him with a series of paralysing strikes as soon as he started talking, and quickly ended his life with a single tap to the head.

Letting the Chameleon Jutsu drop she smirked under her mask at the gasps of the hostages as she appeared. Hinata pulled the man's body away from the lady and began checking to see if anyone had been hurt.

**One hour later, At the Inn.**

The blond had sealed up the corpses in a scroll, to be disposed of back at Konoha. The woman had gone on a quick patrol to see if she there were any other bandits, but she didn't find anyone.

Kakashi stretched and put his book away. He yawned. They would be heading back to Konoha soon. The silver-haired Jonin was of mixed thoughts about this. The mission had gone of flawlessly, so when he returned he'd be sent on another mission soon. That was the bad thing; he'd heard Naruto would be back soon and he didn't want to miss his blond haired students return. Maybe since this mission acted as a sort of Jonin test for Harmony and Discord, he'd be able to persuade Tsunade to let him perform the rest of their exam, keeping him in Konoha for a while.

**Twelve hours later, the Hokage's office.**

"Very well Kakashi, you can preside over the rest of their Jonin qualification test. But before you go…" Kakashi paused. He'd been pleased with how the report had gone, the couple had left a few minutes ago after receiving their pay and he'd even gotten Tsunade to keep him in Konoha. But now she wanted something… What could it be?

"Yes Hokage-sama?" The Hatake asked.

"Do you know who those two are?" Seeing the confused look on Kakashi's face… uh, eye she answered her own question. "They are… Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga!"

Kakashi was floored. He'd tried to be back for his students return, and didn't even realise he'd talked himself into looking over his Jonin exams. "So, you think you're ready to test the new and improved Naruto? Let alone _both_ Naruto _and_ Hinata?"

He nodded vigorously. "I'll get right on it Hokage-sama! But, why didn't you tell me who they were?"

"Think about it. You think of Naruto and Hinata a certain way. By keeping you in the dark you make no assumptions about them. It means you'd judge them fairly. I told you now so you can see how much they've changed." She thought for a minute. "For the challenge portion of the exam you may want to get some help…"

Kakashi nodded and left. What kind of exam could he give them? And, how much had they changed during their trip? Tsunade was right, if he had known who they were he probably would have been against the mission, let alone making them Jonin.

He sighed. He had a lot of thinking to do.

**A/N: Grrr… I'm still not happy with this chapter. It's too short and isn't as detailed as I wanted. Oh well, I'll try to make the next chapter better. You don't have long to vote for Saku/Lee or Saku/Kiba. At the moment the votes are:**

**Saku/Lee: 4**

**Saku/Kiba: 2**

**Saku/No-one: 2**

**Just so you know, the Sakura in this story is a lot nicer than in canon. She's a better person in general (though she will still have her moments.) **

**As always, thanks for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6: This is an Exam?

A/N: So sorry! I've been swamped with assignments lately, I just haven't had the time to do this.

Anyway this is your last chapter voting for Saku/Lee or Saku/Kiba. Voting will close at the beginning of next chapter. So, let's get on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**The Heart of the Storm.**

This is an Exam?

It was almost midnight.

The village hidden in the leaves was all asleep. Well, except for the guards and a madly cackling silver haired Jonin. He'd just finished designing a test to prove the abilities of Naruto and Hinata, and it was EVIL!

It was also unusual, but Kakashi didn't care about that, he wanted this to be interesting, and have a degree of difficulty unheard of in conventional Jonin exams.

Of course, it should be noted that very few Jonin exams were conventional, as the exams were unnecessary. The Hokage promoted shinobi to Jonin based on skills and achievements, not the results of what could easily be a biased exam.

Kakashi's test was entirely practical. No theory whatsoever. This meant he didn't have to mark anything. It was as simple as 'Did you get it?' with a pass if you did and a fail if you didn't. Each section passed let you move on to the next.

He cackled again.

This was evil.

The first part of the test: Steal Anko Mitarashi's dango, while she was eating it!

The hidden leaf village would never know what hit it.

**About 8 in the morning, the town square.**

"You want us to what!?" Naruto screamed. Yes, screamed. Our blond haired, sword wielding demon containing hero screamed. They'd run into Anko on their way home yesterday, and although it had been great (Naruto and Anko were very similar) they had seen what had happened when you got between Anko and her dango.

The poor civilian didn't even mean to do it. He'd tripped, and was now in intensive care and intensely scared of round foods (and the evil women eating them).

While Naruto had screamed Hinata had paled (somehow…). "Kakashi-san, that would be like stealing your whole Icha Icha collection." She said.

"Well it's a good thing that I'm in charge of your exam! If you don't do it you don't pass!" He eye-smiled. "Now get going, she won't be eating for much longer!" He seemed joyful, as if he was finally getting revenge for some horrible crime committed against him.

She probably stole his porn.

**Ten minutes later, a dango stand on the other side of town.**

Special Jonin Anko Mitarashi was devouring dango at a speed that scared all those around her. She inhaled it even faster than Naruto ate ramen, and that was fast!

Hinata casually strode up behind her and tapped her shoulder. When Anko paused and turned around she spoke. "Blame Kakashi." And ran off, leaving Anko alone in the stand, blinking in confusion.

Then she turned around.

Her dango was gone.

"Kakashi!" She roared.

The silver haired Jonin was resting (i.e. reading smut) on a branch when he shivered. He looked around but couldn't see anything. '_Oh well,'_ he thought '_it's probably nothing.'_

**One hour later, in front of the hospital.**

Okay, maybe it hadn't been a good idea to get them to steal Anko's dango, but he'd figured out were he went wrong. He hadn't told them not to tell her that he told them to do it in the first place.

So for the next part of the test he ordered them not to tell Yugao that he got them to cover her in pink dye.

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean Anko hurt you pretty bad, and Yugao _is_ in Anbu." Naruto was genuinely concerned about his sensei's ability to survive, especially since this 'test' seemed to be pulling pranks on attractive women who had probably turned down Kakashi's advances.

"Of course I'm sure! Don't worry about me I'll be perfectly fine… although," He paused for a moment thinking he'd forgotten something. "Nah, it's probably nothing. Well, get going!"

He eye smiled.

**Thirty minutes later, one of the many training grounds around Konoha.**

Yugao Uzuki, Anbu elite and on occasion personal bodyguard of the Hokage herself was steaming. She was _furious!_ That Hatake just didn't know when to quit. She'd turned him down many years ago and he hadn't liked it. He refused to talk to her for over a month and generally acted like a little kid rather than a high ranked shinobi.

Yugao had been training when she sensed someone approaching. Two someone's. They had been trying (and failing) to hide their presence and Yugao thought that they had to be genin fresh out of the academy (or maybe still in it) to be that pathetic.

Then she saw them.

Naruto and Hinata were both hunched over in an exaggerated sneaking pose. They were even humming as they hid behind a tree. "Okay, so we ready for operation: Let Yugao know that Kakashi wanted us to cover her in pink dye without telling it to her face?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes, but remember; we cant let her know that Kakashi told us to do it. Of course, if she _happened_ to be listening in using her Anbu stealth skills and I wasn't using my Byakugan in case she sensed the chakra it uses… well…" She giggled.

Yugao stepped out of the bush she was hiding in and approached the couple. "So, Kakashi's getting you two to dye me pink huh?"

Both cloaked shinobi nodded. Naruto gave her a small jar of dye. Yugao raised an eyebrow. "To make it look like we tried."

Yugao nodded, taking the lid of and dripping a few splashes on her left leg, to make it look like she had jumped aside from the main splash, but had still hit her with a few drops. Passing the jar back to Naruto, the Anbu took a deep breath.

"KAKASHI!!!" She screamed, before taking of to search for the Jonin, her face flushed from screaming.

**Half an hour later, outside the hospital.**

A beaten and battered Kakashi seriously considered calling it quits and just saying Naruto and Hinata were Jonin. Given there performance on the mission he could easily have gotten them to simply pick up some lunch in a time limit or something trivial, say they did a proper test and promoted them.

His pride however, refused to let them get away that easily. Especially since they'd set Anko and Yugao on him. He would not let them get away with that! Of course, rather than giving them any ideas he decided to merge the last two tests.

The first was to steal Tsunade's sake. The second involved Kurenai's more womanly features. His new plan, have them steal the sake then use it to drench Kurenai's top. _If they can survive this, then they deserve to be Jonin!_

Let us take a moment to examine this from Kakashi's way of thinking. If Naruto and Hinata could steal Anko's favourite food _while she was eating it_ and get away alive then they'd easily be able to complete any 'item requisition/recovery' missions they were given.

Dying Yugao pink was also like a mission he himself had had once. Dump acid on the target. Unfortunately someone had mixed up the highly corrosive acid with a vat of heated green dye. It would test their survival skills and there ability to improvise an escape plan in case a mission went wrong.

Stealing Tsunade's sake was a mix of the two. Infiltrate, escape and survive.

Kurenai however, was personal. She had actually broken into his house and burnt his entire Icha Icha collection. Fortunately he kept his personal copies hidden away, but his display collection was reduced to ashes.

Kakashi wasn't an Anbu captain for nothing. He figured out how the couple had gotten around his 'don't tell her' order, so he wrote a list.

They could not: Tell the women, get someone else to tell them, write it out, shout it out, whisper it out, let them overhear them, let someone else overhear them, get summons to tell anyone, make a message using shadow clones, make a message using marks or objects or even use sign language.

There was no way this would come back to him. Not until the test was over at least. But Kakashi wasn't thinking that far ahead.

Tsunade was working diligently, something that had surprised Shizune to no end. Rather than ask why she was working the med-nin decided to leave the slug sannin to her work. However, all good must things come to an end. The doors to Tsunade's office burst open and Naruto and Hinata strolled in.

And started singing.

About Kakashi.

A tick developed on Tsunade's head as she heard (through a rather inventive) song and dance routine that Kakashi had forbidden them from most forms of communication. She became angry when she heard about Anko, and furious when she heard about Yugao. But Kakashi's final test broke whatever self control Tsunade had remaining.

Stealing her sake _and_ doing that to Kurenai!

She grabbed two Jonin vests from a cupboard and threw them and the two singing shinobi. "Congratulations and all on becoming Jonin, your test is now over so you can talk, now; where is Kakashi?"

Needless to say, not long later, Kakashi was in the hospital again.

The Konoha 11 held a huge party for Naruto and Hinata to celebrate their promotions, although Kiba was a bit upset that they _both_ got promoted before he did.

Whilst celebrating a messenger appeared at the booth they were eating in. "I'm sorry to interrupt; Hinata, Naruto, you need to go to the Hokage's office immediately. The Kazekage's been kidnapped!"

**A/N: Well, it's short and it's late, but at least I got it done! And the next few chapters should be quite eventful, lots of stuff happening. Of course, more changes are being made, one of which can be guessed by what happens in this chapter. Think, where was everyone at the end of this chapter? That's enough of a hint… Review with what you think the change is, and if you're right I'll PM you telling you what you've won. (It's worth it, at least, in my opinion *****smile!*****) **


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